As this writer reported Monday, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry convened a panel that mocked the adopted black grandchild of Mitt Romney. The episode drew fire from conservatives and liberals alike forcing Harris-Perry and others to issue apologies. Harris-Perry, however, angered a number of people when she created a special Twitter hashtag for her mea culpa.

Harris-Perry’s actions and subsequent apology, as my friend and colleague Wayne Dupree noted here, should be cause for her firing. They won’t, because MSNBC — dubbed the official network of insane liberal hate — revels in this sort of thing. Remember, this is the network that allowed Martin Bashir to suggest someone defecate and urinate in Sarah Palin’s mouth.

But CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill told Don Lemon that while mocking children is not acceptable, it was okay to use the baby to mock Mitt Romney, the Daily Caller reported Monday.

“There is absolutely a line you shouldn’t cross. The line I think is you don’t make fun of people’s kids, you don’t make fun of people who are adopted, you don’t mock the vulnerable. They didn’t do any of those things,” Hill contended.

That’s when Lemon stepped up to defend the child.

“But Marc, they used the kid to mock Mitt Romney,” he said.

“We use everything to mock Mitt Romney,” Hill said in response. “Mocking Mitt Romney is a sport. And everyone mocks Mitt Romney across the aisle, I don’t see anything wrong with that. They also joked about the lack of diversity in the Republican Party. They’re absolutely right about that.”

“We are making much ado about nothing,” he added.

Lemon continued to press the issue.

“What if this was on Fox? What if this same segment was on Fox? If someone on Fox saying one of these things is not like the other to a black baby and a white family,” he said.

Contributor Ana Navarro, who had earlier wondered if there was a threshold for MSNBC going too far, remarked that Jesse Jackson would be protesting by now.

“Everyone mocks Mitt Romney across the aisle,” Hill said. “The point is, they weren’t making fun of the kid, they were making fun of the Republican Party and maybe even Mitt Romney.”

Hill continued to defend his position on Twitter.

Still, it's totally reasonable to tease Romney and question his motives. He's a public figure. That's not the same as mocking a kid.